The last 2 weeks have been very busy, I feel like I haven’t accomplished very much but I’ve crossed a few things off my list just nothing having to do with my art. The Carter Building Alliance is on hold for awhile, I finished everything I can until I get more information from others. I did get my logo figured out and drawn. I still need to get the business card designed but I’m moving in the right direction.
I started on my website, I have some solid ideas and I’ve found the answer to some of the technical issues. I decided to use horizontal scrolling instead of a slide show format for my portfolios. That seems to solve a lot of user issues, you don’t have to click on a thumbnail to get to a larger image and then do something to get back to the thumbnails – it will save a lot of time and it looks good! I’ve spent a lot of time surfing websites and reading design books and magazines to see how web designers are handling things. I’ve never spent much time aimlessly surfing; most of the sites I use are research type sites and there is not a lot of variation. I found a few ideas that I’d like to play around with and I also made note of things that got in my way as a user (probably the most beneficial part). Now I need to set aside a few days to do nothing but work on my site.
I’m starting a new project for the Glenwood South Merchants Association. The website committee hasn’t moved very fast and there is quite a bit of impatience so I said I’d do it. All we need is a map of the district with links to members sites. The coding will be the easy part, deciding on the type of map to use is the challenge! Here again, most of the sites that have any type of map use Google maps or mapquest. Those are both good for giving directions and the layout of an area but are so sterile. I had decided on using the horizontal scroll here too and I did find a map that used that and one that had a vertical scroll. I like the way the horizontal scroll feels, like walking down the street. Now I just need to determine how to depict the storefronts. I’d love to do illustration style but that could take a long time (8 blocks of storefronts) whereas photographs would go much quicker. Maybe I’ll start with photos and replace them with illustrations when I have more time to get them done. This week I’ll go down and take some pictures and see how it goes; the illustrations wouldn’t have to be very big or detailed so they might go quickly…
I had my first executive committee meeting for VAE this week. There were only 4 of us there and I felt very comfortable with them. I think I will enjoy working with them. The board is such an elite group, I’m a little out of my social area but the ones I’ve met so far are very easy to be with; I hope I can make a lot of good contacts. This to is a step in the right direction to begin networking.
Last week someone wanted to connect with me on Linked In. I thought about it a while and decided that I really needed to get started on the social networking I’d promised myself I’d do. It was rather time consuming to get started; there are a lot of people on Linked In that I know but a lot of the people I thought would be there, aren’t. I’ve communicated with several people I went to college with; it feels so weird because the only way I can picture them is the way they looked 30 years ago. Of course, I picture myself that way too in relation to them! I’m not sure what the connections will do for me outside of a few conversations but the groups that I joined for designers has already provided some interesting information that will be helpful in creating websites. I’ve never used my facebook page for more than seeing what the young people in my family are up to, I wonder how long it will take for me to get the courage to post something to it! I got a course in Twitter; I can’t see that ever being a part of my life – just a little to much information! Blogs are fun, I don’t know if anyone will ever spend time with this one but my kitten one is useful when it’s time to get them adopted. I just have to keep reminding myself that all I have to do is one step at a time!
To do list for nest week:
- order business cards
- get signs hung
- get the portfolios and home page up on my website (that will be a huge accomplishment!)
- sketch out some ideas for the Glenwood site
- maybe paint?
We’ll see how I do this time, I made the list shorter!
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